Stair for railroad coaches and the like



June 21, 1932. E. s. EBERLEIN STAIR FOR RATLRCAD COACHES AND THE LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 6. 1951 mfmlem INVENTOR.

3% A P @gm/i E. S. EBERLEIN STAIR FOR RAILROAD COACHES AND THE LIKE June 21, 1932.

I Filed- April 6, 1931 INVENTOR.

June 21, 1932- E s. EBERLEIN 1,864,053

STAIR FOR RAILROAD COACHES AND THE LIKE Filed April 6, 1931 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Mira/m IN VEN TOR.

Q B? A TO NE Patented June 21, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWIN S. EBERLEIN, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE HALF VIALTER J'. CLAPPER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA STAIR FOR RAILROAD COACHES AND THE LIKE Application filed April 6, 1931.

This invention relates to improvements in stairs and more in particular to stairs used on vehicles, such as railway-coaches, electric cars, automobile busses, and soforth.

Referring especially to the application of this invention to railroad coaches, it may be said that in the modern coaches the lowermost steps of their stairs are generally placed a considerable height above the railroad platform, and that in order to enable passengers to comfortably climb or descend these steps it is necessary to place on the platform a portable foot-stool which acts as an additional step. Aside of the trouble and delay occasioned by the use of this stool, accidents are liable to occur .because of the instability of said stool which may be easily tipped over by the passengers, especially so when the site upon whichit is placed is not perfectly level or even.

' One of the primary objects of this invention is to provide such stairs having at their lower ends an additional step which may be placed into operative position from within the railroad coach. Another object of this invention is to provide a system of levers for operating the additional step which is automatically locked in its operative or inoperative position and which can only-be actuated after precautionary acts for'the safety of train passengers have beenperformed. Still another object of this invention is to provide an additional step to ordinary stairs which is applicable, upon making relatively simple alterations, to old'stairs as well as to new ones.

Additionalfeatures and advantagesof-this invention will-appear in the following de scription considered in connection with the accompanying drawlngs forming a part of this application, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of railroad stairs showing one embodiment ofthis invention.

7 Fig. 2 represents a cross-sectional view taken online 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Serial No. 527,948.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side-elevation of a combined guide and locking means for the operating leverused in the above embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a top-plan view of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of one of the levers used in Figs. 1 and 2. I

Fig. 7 is a front elevation showing a mjodi fied construction of this invention.

Fig. 8 represents a cross-sectional View taken on line 8-8 in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 shows a frontelevationof still other modification of the invention.

Fig. ,10 is a cross-section along line 10-40, Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 11,.in Fig. 9. I Fig. 12 is a fragmentary plan view of the end of a railroad coach provided with stairs of my invention. i

Fig. .13is a fragmentary side-elevationof the railroad coach and stairs shown in Fig. 12.

Reference beinghad to Figs. 1 to 6,..the'

railroad coach, stairs shown therein comprise the stationary steps 1 the lowermost ,ofwhich, (in modern coaches), does not protrude beyond the contour of Zthe coach. To prevent accidents .to passengers and employees these coaches are alsoprovided with side-doors, 2 and with trap-doors 3 tocover the wells'of said stairs. These doors are generallyclosed during the running of the train for the protection ofhumanbeings and to reduce airdrafts and dust within the coach.

The auxiliary step i, at the lower end of the permanent steps 1, is of the slidingtype and comprises atread board ,5. mounted on topof a frame consisting of the front board6 and the two side boards .7 which are considerably longer than the tread ofsaid extra-step to provide.suflicientsupportjto the latter when in extended position.

Mounted within theside-boards aretheoutwardly open channels 8, closed at bothends,

which act as run-ways for the rollers Qrotatably mounted on stationary pins 10 secured in any desired manner to the stair-stringers 11. a

This auxiliary step is actuated baclcand forth by means of an operating lever 12 secured at one end of a cross-shaft13 mounted rotatably in bearings 14 mounted conveniently on the underside of the stairs. Fastened to this shaft are two lever-arms 15, each having at its lower end an elongated slot 16 'engaged by an inwardly directed pin 17 secured adjacent the free end of each side board 7-.

The operating-lever 12 is guided and limited in its movement by a guide member 18 comprising two a-rcuate and parallel side members 19 and 20 held in spaced relation to slidingly receive therebetween the operating-lever by means of spacer-blocks 21 of slightly greater height than the thickness of the operating lever, the whole being tied together in any desired manner, such as by bolts 22 by means of which the guide-member may also be secured at one side of the stairs.

In one of the side-members, say in 20, there are cut recesses 23 and 24C in which the operating-lever may partly nest itself. These recesses are spaced to correspond to the two extreme positions of the operating-lever. This lever is slightly bent laterally in the direction of the recesses, so that it will engage same due to its inherent resiliency, and can only be disengaged by exerting a transverse pull away from the recess. 7

As shown in Fig. 2, the operating-lever is so mounted on the cross-shaft that when the auxiliary step is extended in operative position, it will be in a nearly vertical position in front of the raised trap door 3 and will thus preclude the dropping of the latter over the stairwell unless theolmrating-lever has been pushed forward below the floor level of the coach to retract this auxiliary step, as indicated in dot and dash lines.

As is well known, for safety reasons all the trap-doors and outside doors of modern coaches must be closed before the train is started. By virtue of the above described arrangement of the operating-lever in relation to the trap door, the full retraction of the auxiliary step within the outline of the coach is automatically assured and accidents due to collision with said step are prevented.

Suitably located in the floor of the vestibule 25 of the railroad coach is a slot 26 (Fig. 12) of ample width and length to accommodate the movement of the operating-lever 12 and to enable access thereto when in its lowered position, corresponding to the inoperative prises the rigidly connected tread 28 and the,

riser 29. The latter is here shown hingedly eather;

connected to the underside of the lowermost step' 1 by'means of hinges 30.

The counter clock rotation of the auxiliary lever into the inoperative position shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 8 is again effect ed by means ofan operating-lever of similar shape and mounting as herein-above described and therefore identified by the same reference-numerals. I

Upon the cross-shaft 13 are securely mounted-in any desired manner the two leverarms 31 to which are hingedly connected by means of a pin-connection 32 the upper ends of the connecting-links 33 the lower ends of which are hinged by the pin connections 31 to cleats 35 secured at both ends and underneath the auxiliary tread board 28.

As will be readily seen from Fig. 8, a counterclock rotation of the operating-lever 12 into the lowermost position shown in dot, and dash lines will cause the retraction of the auxiliary step and enable the closing of the side-door 2 and the trap-door 3 over the stairs This operating lever is again guided and locked in either one of its extreme p osi well.

the rear-arm 12 of each lever 39 there is an elongated slot a3 to which is slidably connected by a pin-connection 1 1 the bifurcated lower end d5 of a suitably curved lever-arm 46 mounted securely on the cross-shaft 13, which may be actuated by means of the operating-lever 12. This lever is also guided and locked by guide-means, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and its disposition relative to the side-door and the trap-door is as aforementioned.

A downward push of the operating lever into the dot and dash position shown in Fig. 10 will cause a clockwise rotation of the auxiliary step into inoperative position.

To relieve the lever mechanism of any strains when the auxiliary step is in oper ative position, stops 17 are fastened on the inside of the stringers ll against which stops the riser 38 bears. As shown in Figs. 9 and 11, the tread-board 37 of the auxiliary step is made shorter than its riser to clear these stops and allow said step to assume its inoperative position.

As will be understood, as suggested herein, there may be slightchanges made in the construction and arrangement of the details of my invention without departing from the field and scope of the same, and I intend to include all such variations, as fall within the scope of the appended claims, in this appli- It comprises cation in which the preferred forms only of my invention are disclosed.

I claim:

1. In a railway coach and the like, the combination of a stair having stationary steps and stringers, an auxiliary horizontally movable step positioned at the lower end of said stair; means positioned on said stringers for slidably supporting said auxiliary step in a fixed horizontal plane; a lever operable from within said coach to actuate said auxiliary step in and out of operative position; unitary means positioned on one of the stringers to guide and limit the movement of said lever; said guide-means having recesses adapted to be engaged by the lever, and said lever being transversely resilient and initially bent in the direction of said recesses to normally engage same.

2. In a railroad coach and the like having a stair comprising stationary steps and stringers, a side-door and a trap-door adapted to close the stair-well, the combination of an auxiliary horizontally movable step posi tioned at the lower end of said stair; means positioned on said stringers for slidably supporting said auxiliary step in a fixed horizontal plane; a manually operable lever to actuate said auxiliary step from within the coach; said lever being so arranged that the auxiliarystep must be placed in inoperative position to enable the closing of said doors; unitary means positioned on one of the stringers to guide and limit the movements of said lever; said guide-means having recesses adapted to be engaged by the lever and said lever being transversely resilient and initially bent in the direction of said recesses to normally engage same.

3. In a railroad coach and the like having a stair comprising stationary steps and stringers, a side-door and a trap-door adapted to close the stair-well, the combination of an auxiliary horizontally movable step positioned at the lower end of said stair; means positioned on said stringers for slidably supporting said auxiliary step in a fixed horizontal plane; a manually operable lever to actuate said auxiliary step from within the coach; said lever being disposed so that a portion thereof will be in front of said sidedoor and trap-door when in open position, whereby said auxiliary step must be placed in inoperativeposition to enable the closing of said doors.

4. In a railroad coach and the like having a stair comprising stationary steps and stringers, a side-door and a trap-door adapted to close the stair-well, the combination of an auxiliary horizontally movable step positioned at the lower end of said stair; means positioned on said stringers for slidably sup porting said auxiliary step in a fixed horiactuate said auxiliary step from within the coach; said lever being so disposed that a portion thereof will be in front of said sidedoor and trap-door when in open position whereby said auxiliary step must be placed in inoperative position to enable the closing of said doors; unitary means positioned on one of the stringers to guide and limit the movements of said lever; said guide means having recesses adapted to be engaged by the lever and said lever being transversely resilient and initially bent in the direction of said recesses to normally engage same.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EDWIN S. EBERLEIN. 

